Conservatives spent years reshaping the federal judiciary, but dozens of injunctions blocking the Trump administration’s agenda are leaving Republicans griping about a federal judiciary they now say is chock-full of judicial activists.
In their rush to remove any obstacle in the way of President Donald Trump’s agenda, Republicans are taking a scorched-earth approach toward the branch they invested decades’ worth of political capital in. They’re proposing legislation to curb the power of the judicial branch, most recently focusing their energy on trying to limit judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions and finding other ways to attack the legitimacy of the courts.
The proposals have an uphill climb to make it through the Senate. But legal experts have been surprised and puzzled by the newfound level of ire toward the judicial branch that Republicans long revered and sought to stack with allies.